Tag: Generosity

Living in a Big World

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Sometimes the world feels small. Everywhere we go, things feel crowded and cramped. We know vastly more about the world and what’s happening in it than we did a generation ago. In fact, sometimes we know what’s happening on the far side of the world than we do with our own neighbors. Sometimes we know more about the former than we do about what’s happening in our own house. We want space. We want to be able to stretch and spread our wings and live to our full potential. King Solomon offers us a way to do that. As we begin our new teaching series, How Big Is Your World, let’s talk about the key to living in as big a world as possible.

Living in a Big World

How big is your world? When we lived in Colorado, we made several trips to the top of Pike’s Peak. It was always a beautiful drive on the way up there, and the view was stunning. There was one picture I took on the way up that is still framed and sitting in my office that really captures the experience for me. Standing at the top of the mountain in the early fall, there is an uneven sea of green stretching out in front of you. Punctuating the green landscape in the background are pops of brilliant yellow where the Aspen trees are at the peak of their color change. There is also a clear, mountain lake in the distance, beautifully reflecting the crystal blue sky. From the picture itself, it looks like it was taken from the top of the world. I can tell you that standing there the sense was even more humbling. I remember feeling tiny in a huge world. 

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 36:2-7

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“So Moses summoned Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled person in whose heart the Lord had placed wisdom, all those hearts moved them, to come to the work and do it. They took from Moses’s presence all the contributions that the Israelites had brought for the task of making the sanctuary. Meanwhile, the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. Then all the artisans who were doing all the work for the sanctuary came one by one from the work they were doing and said to Moses, ‘The people are bringing more than is needed for the construction of the work the Lord commanded to be done.’ After Moses gave an order, they sent a proclamation throughout the camp: ‘Let no man or woman make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.’ So the people stopped. The materials were sufficient for them to do all the work. There was more than enough.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the things you have to learn as a parent is that you can’t do everything for your kids. Some parents learn that lesson better than others. You can typically tell which parents are which by looking at their kids. If you do everything for your kids, they won’t learn to do anything for themselves. They won’t learn to take ownership of things and make their own responsible, informed decisions. They won’t gain the satisfaction of contributing meaningfully to a project, of working hard and seeing the fruits of their labors. When God commanded the building of the tabernacle, He could have just plunked it down in the middle of camp fully completed. But He didn’t. He brought the people in on the project. And, to their credit, they responded. Let’s talk about what we see here and how God still works today.

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Giving God Something Worthwhile

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God is in the business of growing His kingdom. The primary way He does that is through the faithful labors of the people who have committed their lives to Him in Christ in small (and large) communities all over the world that we call churches. God is growing His kingdom through the ministries of First Baptist Oakboro, and we are on the cusp of taking a big step of faith as we follow Him in pursuit of even more. For the next month, I want to share with you a vision for how to experience more of God’s kingdom-growing work in your own life, as well as to invite you into a journey of experiencing that work alongside of us. The first thing experiencing this incredible work takes is a willingness to say no to the things that might prevent it. That is, it takes a commitment to sacrificial living. Let’s talk about it.

Giving God Something Worthwhile

Do you know what it takes to become a world class athlete? Or a world class woodworker? Or a world class singer? Or a world class anything? It takes just two things. I know that sounds a little crazy to say, but it’s true. It takes only two things. If you have these two things, you can be a world class ____________. The first thing it takes is some level of natural talent for whatever it is. Some people are just naturally good at playing the piano, for instance. Some are naturally good artists. I had a friend in high school who could draw anything. He didn’t really do anything to become that good, he just had a natural ability to take what was in his mind and translate it to a page. Some people have a natural talent for doing math. Different people are good at different things. If you don’t have any talent for something at all, you can probably develop an affinity for it, but there’s always going to be a difference between what you can accomplish with regard to that thing, and what someone who does can.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 23:10-12

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“Sow your land for six years and gather its produce. But during the seventh year you are to let it rest and leave it uncultivated, so that the poor among your people may eat from it and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive Grove. Do your work for six days but rest on the seventh day so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave as well as the resident alien may be refreshed.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the things we ask God for are blessings. We all want to be blessed by God. We want our nation to be blessed by Him. At a recent community prayer event a member of my church sang a beautiful rendition of “God Bless America.” We want to enjoy His abundance. And, our God is a blessing God, so that’s a good and right thing for us to ask for. But the thing we don’t understand as well both at all and in terms of its implications is that God’s blessings are always directional. God is always thinking about and aiming for the other. We see a pretty good example of this character on display here in a couple of laws that don’t seem to have anything to do with this. Let’s talk about another reason for Sabbath.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 22:29-30

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“You must not hold back offerings from your harvest or your vats. Give me the firstborn of your sons. Do the same with your cattle and your flock. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but on the eighth day you are to give them to me.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

There’s an awful scene from the beginning of the movie Braveheart where William Wallace has just gotten married and some English soldiers arrive in town and learn about the wedding. The soldiers demand their rights of jus primae noctis (“the right of the first night”) as extended to them by King Edward “Longshanks” the ruler of the land. This meant they were entitled to sleep with a woman on her wedding night before she and her new husband have the opportunity to come together. The actual history of the practice is a bit murky, but it was basically part of a ruler’s demand of the first and best of his people. Reading this next law, I’m reminded of that scene. God here demands the first and best from His people. How is this any different from what the English soldiers in Braveheart did? Let’s explore that together.

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